


Midnight Snack

by justcallmeradio



Series: Missing Stories from the Argo [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Argo II (Percy Jackson), Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Nightmares, POV Piper, Percy is a Dork, Piper McLean is a Good Friend, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25271626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justcallmeradio/pseuds/justcallmeradio
Summary: The first night aboard the Argo II, Piper runs into Percy while she is having a midnight snack.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I glanced up at Percy, who still looked like he had walked to the underworld and back. It seemed unlikely that he would be going back to sleep and it didn’t feel right to leave him alone. “Or, we could go get a midnight snack.”
Relationships: Percy Jackson & Piper McLean
Series: Missing Stories from the Argo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830880
Comments: 3
Kudos: 104





	Midnight Snack

PIPER

My eyes were starting to grow heavy as I sat on the mess hall table of the Argo II, eating cookie dough ice cream. It must have been close to two in the morning, but insomnia had driven me away from my new bed and into the kitchen for a midnight snack. Today had been a disaster. The first voyage of the Argo, the seven finally came to together, and it blew up in our faces, literally. So much for uniting the camps, we may have just started a war. And all the good I was. Turns out, charm speak isn’t the best weapon against angry Romans throwing bricks at your boyfriend.

I was about to head back to my room when a crash from down the hall pulled me from my thoughts. Quickly I put down the ice cream and pulled out my dagger. I crept out of the room, dagger ready, but was surprised to see Percy stumbling down the hall. He crashed into a doorway a few doors down from me, and all but fell in.

”Hello?” I whispered, not entirely sure that I hadn’t imagined that. No one responded.

Dagger still out, I moved down the hallways to the door he fell through. I felt my heart beating though out my entire body. It suddenly dawned on me that this was the bathroom. My face started to heat up, and I started to turn around, but I heard pained coughing from inside.

”Percy?” I said, this time louder, and again, no one responded.

”Oh for fucks sake,” I mumbled. I turned on the lights and walked in the room

I gasped when I saw what was inside. Percy was sitting on the floor in front the toilet, head ducked down. His face was as pale as a ghost. His whole body trembled. I dropped to miners at his side as he vomited.

“Shit, are you okay? Should I go get Hedge? What happened?”

Percy flinched a little, as if he didn’t realize I came in the room. He turned to look at me, and I could see his eyes were hollow, and carrying massive black bags underneath. Before Percy could say anything he turned back and vomited again... and again. I didn’t know what to do except watch in horror. 

Eventually, Percy leaned away from the toilet and looked up at me.

“Hey,” he said, as if I had not just walked in on him dying in the bathroom. “What brings you here this late at night?”

“I could ask you the same thing, are you sick? Should I go get someone?”

“No!” Percy said quickly. He seemed panicked at the though. “No, it’s fine. I’m not sick.”

I raised an eyebrow, not believing Percy. The guy looked like shit, to put it nicely.

“I swear,” he said, putting his hands up. “Just... just had a bad dream.”

He sounded a little embarrassed, but I understood. After all my dreams of my dad during our quest, I could imagine what was happening. Still, I had to wonder what shook him up this bad, after all he’s been fighting monster since he was twelve. I didn’t pry, though, and it didn’t seem like he didn’t want to talk.

“Oh um...” Very little in my 16 years prepared me for this. “Can I help?”

“I’m okay, really...” 

Percy forced on a smile, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself just as much as me. An awkward tension was starting to build in the air, as I realized I hadn’t actually talked to Percy before this, at least not alone.

“Well...” he said, clearly uncomfortable as well, “Sitting on the bathroom floor with you has been a pleasure, but we should probably go to sleep,” 

“Yeah, probably,” I mumbled, but as I glanced up at Percy, who still looked like he had walked to the underworld and back, it seemed unlikely that he would be going back to sleep. It didn’t seem right to leave him alone. “Or, we could go get a midnight snack. You should probably eat something.”

I pushed myself off of the floor and extended my hand to Percy. Reluctantly, he took it, and we walked to the mess hall.

We ended up on sitting on the table next to each other, our feet propped up on the seats. Percy was eating a bright blue ice cream. I didn’t want to ask. We ate in silence for a while, but eventually Percy broke the silence.

“How’s Camp Half Blood doing these days?”

“Honestly, seems like they were falling apart without you.”

Percy laughed. “Somehow I doubt that, I tend to cause more chaos than I resolve.”

I laughed too, and we fell into silence again.

“The same for me... about camp half blood falling apart,” Percy continued. “Gods, it’s been almost a year since I’ve been home. I miss that place. And Manhattan, I bet my mom is going crazy.”

“Have you talked to her since you disappeared?”

“I left her a voicemail in Alaska, I was the middle of the night though, she didn’t pick up.”

. 

“I miss my dad,” I said, “it’s been almost a year since I’ve seen him too, last time was on my quest to go save him. It seems like so long ago I started getting crazy dreams about him and we fought our first giant.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, “it’s been a long year.”

Percy stared at his blue ice cream, not eating, his expression empty, far away. He wasn’t a hard guy to read, per se, he was just so... different than what I expected. The camp practically hero worshipped him, you couldn’t go a day without hearing his name and tales of his quests. Annabeth constantly talked about his stupid jokes, how he was brave and loyal and reckless. How he was really smart, although he didn’t show it, but also could be oblivious. The Percy in front of me seemed very... real. He was supposed to be invincible, but he looked more broken then anything. 

“I had a dream about the first war.” Percy didn’t look away from his ice cream. He was struggling with his words.

“You don’t have to tell me!” I blurted out, immediately regretting it. “I mean, of course I’m here to listen, but you aren’t obligated-“

“You found me puking on the bathroom floor,”he said, forcing a laugh, “I feel like you should at least know why... Luke was there, in my dream. He was Kronos’-“

“I know about him,” I interrupted. “Annabeth told me.”

Percy nodded. “He was asking me why I didn’t save him, why I don’t do more. Luke was begging me to do something. He started bleeding gold out of his eyes, and then Kronos took over.”

Percy paused and took a deep breath. I just watched, not wanting to interrupt again.

“Annabeth appeared next to him. Kronos was holding her up by her neck. She was screaming and fighting, but she couldn’t escape. I tried to run to her, but I was too slow. Kronos pulled out his Scythe, and then... then he impaled her. Right into her back, out through her heart.”

“Oh,” I said, lost for words. “I- um... that’s intense.”

“Ha, yeah, hence the throwing up.”

“Does that happen a lot?” 

“No,” he answered. “Well, sometimes. The dreams, yes, but I don’t normally vomit... that much. You’d think after so many years you’d get used to it... but it only seems to get worse.”

“It’ll get better eventually. Just a few more weeks, right? This quest will be over.”

“Or the world ends, and it will really be over,” Percy laughs.

”Shut up, that’s not funny,” I said, shoving him in the side, but I was laughing too.

Eventually we both collected ourselves and continued to eat our ice cream. The color had returned back to Percy’s face. He looked alive again. I felt better, too. The failures of that day weren’t as heavy on my shoulders.

“We should probably go to sleep,” I sighed.

“Right, we need plenty of energy for all the giants we are going to kill tomorrow.”

Percy flashed a lopsided smile, genuine this time, and we walked out of the mess hall.

“Good night, Percy,” I said before we parted ways.

“Night, Piper.”

I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

**Author's Note:**

> I randomly mentioned this in another fic I wrote, and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head so... here this is. I think it’s a little out of character but I tried my best. I hope you liked it, if so leave a kudos and a comment, it makes me so happy and I’ll respond to everyone. Ahhh yeah thanks for reading!!!  
> <3
> 
> EDIT: okay it’s been a while and no one cares but I just fixed this up and I’m actually kinda proud of it now (even though there are still a lot of typos) so yeah. Thanks to all the people who left kudos


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